Three years removed from a coaching career that should land him in the Hall of Fame, Gary Williams remains an astute observer of college basketball. Not surprisingly, Virginia has earned his admiration this season.

I spoke with Williams this morning for a column advancing the Cavaliers’ game Sunday at Maryland, the Terps’ final ACC regular-season contest before leaving for the Big Ten. Williams played at Maryland during the 1960s and coached his alma mater from 1989-2011, guiding the Terps to the 2001 Final Four and 2002 national championship.

Fifth-ranked Virginia (25-5, 16-1 ACC) has similar aspirations and, in remarks too lengthy to include in the print column, Williams praised Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett and sixth man Justin Anderson, who committed to Maryland and switched to Virginia only when Williams retired.

The Cavaliers have “done a great job because they got better as the year went on,” Williams said. “I always look at that. Just because games start, that doesn’t mean you stay the same. If you want to be good, you have to keep improving, and they have all year. …

“They have the ability to take it up a notch, too. You see a lot of games where a team stays with them, stays with them and all of a sudden they go on a 10-2 run or something that puts the game away. They have a great deal of pride in their defense, and that doesn’t happen in a week or even a year sometimes. That takes a while, and Virginia and Tony Bennett have that in the program now.”

Among the games Virginia won with a late spurt was last month against visiting Maryland. The teams were tied at 35 before a 9-0 Cavaliers run that included Anderson blocking a Roddy Peters layup and saving the ball to Teven Jones, who found Joe Harris for a transition three.

Can you say 5-point turnaround?

“I’m really proud of him,” Williams said of Anderson, a 6-foot-6 sophomore and the team’s best on-the-ball defender. “He plays a great role for Virginia. He played at the same place, Montrose Christian, as (former Maryland guard and 2010 ACC player of the year) Greivis Vasquez did, and I always thought, getting to see Justin play a lot in his younger days … that he could be one of those game-changers.

“You didn’t always know what he was going to do when he came in the game, but he’d block or shot or — I’ve seen a couple of his blocks this year where he blocks breakaway layups from behind. There’s very few people that have not just that athletic ability but timing. …

“It disturbs the other team when he’s on the court and that’s a great thing to have. If things aren’t going well to be able to come in and change the way the game is going. Justin has that ability. I’m really proud of what he’s done because I always liked him, always liked his family. It was one of the recruiting processes you really enjoyed because of the people you were dealing with.”

In 33 seasons as a head coach, four at American, four at Boston College, three at Ohio State and 22 at Maryland, Williams compiled a 668-380 record and reached 17 NCAA tournaments. He is a finalist for this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class.

I’ll have much more from him on his ACC memories in Sunday’s print column, which will appear online Saturday afternoon.

I can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com. Follow me at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP